48 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



Such is the chief kind of winter dwelling of the 

 Eskimos on the coasts of Hudson's Bay, Cumber- 

 land Sound, and many other parts. Elsewhere 

 different modes of building are met with. 



Into one of these houses let us enter and form 

 part of the family circle. The head of the house, 

 like every Eskimo, is a hunter. As the days are 

 short, the hours must be economized. Long before 

 the dim light makes itself evident the hunter is up. 

 His wife puts a fresh supply of blubber into the 

 lamp and trims the wick, and the sledge is made 

 ready. Should the household larder contain any 

 meat, the hunter takes a morning meal ; but if, as 

 is often the case, the larder is of the Mother Hub- 

 bard type, then the poor Eskimo has none. 



Fastening his dogs to his sledge he then drives 

 over the frozen waste till he arrives at a favourable 

 spot for sealing. 



During the time that the hunters are away the 

 women employ themselves in making or repairing 

 the clothing or footgear of their husbands and 

 children. When we remember that every article 

 of wearing apparel is made of the skins of the cap- 

 tured animals, and that before they are fit to be 

 sewn they have to be prepared at a great cost of 

 time and labour by the women, it is easy to under- 

 stand that, as in civilized England so in the land of 

 snow-houses and skin clothes, " a woman's work is 

 never done." 



